Neither has he so far forgotten a poor inhabitant of his suburbs,
whose best prospect is on the garden of Leicester House, but that more
than once he has been offering him his patronage, to reconcile him to
a world, of which his misfortunes have made him weary[3]. There is
another Sidney still remaining, though there can never be another
Spenser to deserve the favour. But one Sidney gave his patronage to
the applications of a poet; the other offered it unasked. Thus,
whether as a second Atticus, or a second Sir Philip Sidney, the latter
in all respects will not have the worse of the comparison; and if he
will take up with the second place, the world will not so far flatter
his modesty, as to seat him there, unless it be out of a deference of
manners, that he may place himself where he pleases at his own table.
I may therefore safely conclude, that he, who, by the consent of all
men, bears so eminent a character, will out of his inborn nobleness
forgive the presumption of this address. It is an unfinished picture,
I confess, but the lines and features are so like, that it cannot be
mistaken for any other; and without writing any name under it, every
beholder must cry out, at first sight,--this was designed for Atticus;
but the bad artist has cast too much of him into shades. But I have
this excuse, that even the greatest masters commonly fall short of the
best faces.
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